Naturally, I tend to be a shy person at first.
One of my ever-present faults is that I over analyze everything...to death.
I'll analyze something to the point that I practically cripple myself,
and usually decide against it, simply because it is the easiest route.

That is why I've chosen this word.

unshrinking

In my life, I have hemmed myself in....
I come upon a cross roads and after analyzing the risks,
decide, no, I don't want to go that way; only to turn around and be
faced with another frightening cross road.

In all honesty,
I've no were else to turn now.
In too many areas I've turned around hoping for an easier, clearer path.
But my heart can't live in the 'easy'...it really longs for the grand adventures.
I have to choose the risks, and face them unshrinkingly.

To live the life I desire and be the person I want,
I must choose to be...

unshrinking.

If you could choose one word to live by this year,
what would it be?~~~~

Yes you HAVE to use olive oil...it doesn't taste near as food with canola oil. Not to mention it is really unhealthy for you.

A lid for your pan is a MUST. I just found a kettle lid that fit my skillet and used that.

DO NOT use a PLASTIC bowl to dump your popcorn in...the kernels and popcorn are very hot when you finish popping, if you dump them into a plastic bowl they will melt indentations into it....trust me, I know.

CAUTION:You will be working with hot oil and popping corn.I recommend if you have any small children,keep them away from your working area while making this.Tiny escaping oil splatters are possible, so be careful.This is why it is most important that you wear mitts on both hand whilepopping.

Before you start popping,

be sure you have all of your ingredients measured out

and your tools set up and handy, this is a fast process,

so you need to be prepared!

Step 1: Heat

Place your skillet on the stove top

and turn the heat to Med-High.

Allow pan to heat up.

Step 2: Add Oil

Once pan is heated,

pour in the olive oil.

Depending on the size of your skillet, you may or may not need the entire 3/4 c. of oil.
Usually I don't measure when I do this step- I simply pour in enough so that the bottom is decently covered.

Allow this to warm up as well, about 5 mins.

In all honestly,

I know it is ready when it starts to lightly smoke.

You can test if the oil is hot enough

by placing a single kernel in the oil- if it bubbles around the kernel,

it is hot enough.

If it doesn't, remove the kernel and allow oil to continue heating.

Step 3: Add Kernels

Once the oil is heated,

pour your kernels in.

You can measure them out,
or pour enough to get a single layer of kernels, again, I do this by sight.

Using your metal spoon, spread them around to ensure they are coated in the oil.

Step 4: Add Sugar

Depending on how brave you are, you have two

choices at this point.

1. You can add the sugar right after stirring the kernels into the oil

Or

2. Wait until the first kernel pops then add the sugar- this is what I do.

The advantage of adding it after the first pop is that the sugar

doesn't clump up as much because it doesn't sit in the oil as long.

The disadvantage to waiting until the first pop?
You might get splattered with hot oil if another one pops.

Step 5: Stir

Whichever you choose,

add the sugar, stir to coat.

If you waited for the first pop,

cover immediately after stirring in the sugar.

If you didn't, continue stirring lightly

until the first kernel pops then cover the pan.

Step 6: Cover & Shake

Cover your skillet.With mitts on both hands,
shake the skillet back and forth over the burner,
occasionally tipping from front to back.
This movement keeps the kernels circulating and avoids burning them.

Like this.
Keep them moving!

Just as with microwave popcorn,
once the popping has slowed down and a large space
occurs between pops, this is a sign your popcorn is ready!

Remove pan from heat and carefully pour popcorn in bowl.BE CAREFUL.Kernels may still continue to pop because of the heat of the skillet.
Use the lid as a sort of shield while you are pour the popcorn into the bowl.

You will have unpopped kernels dispersed throughout,
but that is ok.Step 7: Eat!

Lightly salt the popcorn and stir.

It is still very HOT at this point, so let it cool before eating!

See that crystallized, caramelized sugar goodness?!

This stuff is amazing!

Hits the spot every time!

Small warning,

be aware of unpopped kernels stuck to the popcorn by the hardened sugar!

Look before you snack, or you might have a 'hard' awakening.

Don't worry if you slightly (or more than slightly) burn some of the popcorn on your first try.
You will get the hang of it after a couple runs!

I hope you enjoy this quick, yummy treat!
I know I issued several caution and warning statements,
but don't let that frighten you, this really isn't difficult to make,
so give it a try!

As Anne would say,"I have a scratchy
pen and I can't write love-letters with a scratchy pen . . . or a
sharp pen . . . or a stub pen. So you'll only get that
kind of letter from me when I have exactly the right kind of pen."Anne of Windy Poplars by L.M. Montgomery The right pen is key...I'm especially fond of the dark, black gel-pen sortThe INC. Brand Pro X-Tank pens are my favorite!(Total nerd moment, I know...)

In which century were most of the books you read written?

Most of the books I read/have read are by modern authors,

such as Francine Rivers, Michael Phillips (not to be confused with the Olympic swimmer),

Janette Oke, Gilbert Morris etc.

But I do LOVE C.S. Lewis' writings, as well as Shakespeare, Jane Austen,

old poetry and some of the other, singularly great classic pieces of literature,as referenced in the proceeding question.

Jane Eyre is possibly one of my favorite 'old' books.

What is one of your favorite Bible verses? I know hardly anyone has just a single favorite, so just pick one that comes to mind.

Actually, that one is easy!

My favorite verse(s) is

Isaiah 43:18-19

In fact, I have a second blog (which has been sadly abandoned as of late)

that gets it's namesake from those verses.

Do you sew, and if so (haha), what?

I do sew, and I just celebrated the one year anniversary

of (finally) learning how this past Valentine's Day!

I still feel so new to the world of sewing,

but I enjoy refashioning clothes the most, partly because

it is so practical and far less expensive than buying material.

But I enjoy a good 'scratch' project too and have tons

of clothing patterns (vintage!) that I want to make!

What are three of your favorite movies?

Three?! Just three?!

An all encompassing statement is that I love old movies!

That being said, if I had to pick only three favorites,

I would have to say....

Hello, DollyBringing up BabyLetters to Juliet...this was so hard....and I'm not even sure those were the right three...*heavy sigh*...oh well

1. How long have you been blogging?I have technically been blogging for nearly two years(at this blog), though I really only started to get into blogging seriously last spring!

2. Tea or Coffee?Funny story.I used to hate tea!Try as I might I couldn't make myself down the stuff.Then one winter about four years ago, I got sick, and a steaming cup of spearmint teajust hit the spot, and I've enjoyed tea ever since!Both have their place, I don't think I could choose.But I probably enjoy coffee more. :)

3. What are your favorite historical eras?1940-1950's! I do enjoy costumes and fashioned from other historical eras as well,but I don't know much about them.

4. What fandoms do you associate yourself with (e.g.; Marvel, Doctor Who, LotR, Benedict Cumberbatch, Jane Austen, etc.)?I'm not really a part of any fandoms, but being in a household of brothers, I must admit I'm pretty interested in the Marvel franchise...and fairly taken with Tom Hiddleston, with Jeremy Renner a close second.

5. Do you play any instruments?I took piano when I was really young, got back at it in my teens for three years, covering 4 levels, and then just stopped because my teacher moved away.I still love the instrument, but I don't really play much anymore.I also play the recorder and had fun figuring out Celtic music by ear!

6. What is your favorite book of the Bible and why?Probably Isaiah...I relate to so much of what he covers,and the imagery, beauty and depth of book draw me in.Romans would be second choice.

7. On a scale of 1-10, how do you feel about tweed?

(1 being "Disgusting", 10 being "Wish I lived in Yorkshire")Probably a 3...meh.I'd wear it was comfortable and I liked the style and color.But I don't seek it out.

8. Do you enjoy traveling?Is this a trick question?!Yes!I also love driving...road trip, baby!

9. What is your most treasured childhood memory?It was close to mom's due date, she was expecting mythird brother. Dad sent me and my younger brothersto stay with Nana and Papa for about a week to give mom some rest.All of my cousins lived just minutes down the road, or a walk across the pasture,from Nana and Papa, so we got together and played everyday.One day,Nana and Papa informed us they planned to take us all swimming at the lake the following day, we were all so excited! Low and behold, the next day it cold...and pouring rain.We were devastated.But my Nana was a most imaginative and ingenuitive grandmother,who was a master at pretend.She rigged up what has gone down in the history books of our familyas the best Beach Party ever!We laid out blue blankets for the water,yellow blankets for sand, blew up the beach toys, and put on our swim suits!We turned up the heat, packed a picnic and had a blast!Pillows became jet skis, and Papa turned the couch in a boat (none of these we actually had in real life, mind you!)We even had a passenger fall overboard! :)Every single one of us cousins (I had 6 at the time) remember this beach party! That is one of my best childhood memories!

10. What is your personal style and how does it reflect your personality?My style, like my personality, is many faceted!I love skirts and dresses in the summer,but come winter time, there is just nothing like a pair of jeans,a button up flannel and a warm bulky sweeter!I like vintage and feminine styles, but I also lean towards long, flowing styles more like 70's, hippy clothes. I'm all over the place, really. :)

11. What is your all-time favorite item of clothing or outfit to wear?

Well, it definitely isn't the bra!

Probably a sweeter...I have two comfy ones I practically live in when it is cold.There you have it!Thanks, McKenna!~~~~
And now, time for some rules and my nominees!

If you didn't read my little sleuthing story behind this award, you really ought to.

I'll wait.

Ready?

So, in light of all I learned while researching this award,
I'm going to reinstate the mission statement of The Sunshine Award
and adjust the rules to fit some of the earliest, and close to origin, posts I found.

The Sunshine Award is..

"For bloggers who positively and creatively inspire others

in the blogsphere."

Those who bring a little sunshine into our day!

THE RULES:

Thank and recognize the blogger(s) who nominated you (link back)

Post the award on your blog

Answer the questions given you by your Nominator.

Nominate 5-10 other bloggers (no tag backs) and let them know you nominated them

Set 10 questions for your nominees to answer

The rules given me by my two nominators

also included an extra step: list 11 facts about yourself.

That is something that has been added through the passage of time,

and seemed a little redundant since you were already answering 10 questions;

therefore I altered the rules I'm attaching to my nominees.

However,

I just so happened to recently share 11 facts about myself in this little post...

Hey all!
Guess what?
I was recently nominated twice for the Sunshine Award...well sorta.
That is where the sleuthing story comes in.
I call this story...The Case of the Mistaken Identity Award!

Reyna from the blog A Peace of the Past
nominated me for The Sunflower Blogger Award.
What a nice gesture! Thank you Reyna!

But before writing a post about it, I wanted to do some research and learn
more about this award.

To my surprise, I found nearly nothing.

So, I put on my curious, ex-journalistic sleuthing hat and started digging!

Following all of the blog link backwards,
I tracked this particular thread of the 'Sunflower' award and found some
very interesting things!

As far back as I can track it,
which is 14 blogs back, this leg of the award started in the United Kingdom!
Unfortunately, I can't track it back any further, the blogger not only didn't use a link
but they didn't put up a post about the award...so, I lost the scent!

Hop down 7 blogs and we come to North America.
I'm not sure if it is the US or not, there was no 'about me' info at that particular blog,
but the address was no longer uk.
The blogger after that was from Canada!
And the last 6 blogs that have circulated this award have been in various US states.

Now here is the big discovery...The award mistakenly changed names 9 blogs ago!
The blog author just misread the title and changed it from the Sunshine Award to the Sunflower award!
I accredit that mistake to the fact that the previous blogger used an image of a sunflower.

THAT would explain why I didn't come up a string of results
when I searched the Sunflower Award!

This Sunflower Blogger Award badge appeared on the scene
just 4 blogs back, created by Sarah, Plain and Average.
It is a shame this image is obsolete, it is so pretty!

NOW that I had the name right, I did a search on The Sunshine Award
and found tons of posts and images!

I found there are various images that have been used with this award.

These two seamed to be the least used images that are circulating.

And these two are the most popular
with the blue and orange image seemingly the oldest, most used and official, award image.

And, just like the images have changed from blog to blog,
apparently so have the rules!

The rules are basically this: answer questions given to you
(in some cases I found, it was a predetermined list of basic questions: fav. color etc. that never changed)
by the person who nominated you, and then you nominated so many people in return
and asked them your own set of questions.

In my research, I found the numbers varied any where from the current rules of
answering 11 questions to only 7, and from tagging 11 people to only 5!

In all my sleuthing however, I was never able to find the origins of the Sunshine Award.

Apparently I'm not the only one who has searched this thing out..
I came across this post and the author shared much of what I had discovered,
that the numbers/rules had changed lots over the course of time.
I was impressed to find that she had tracked the award back to January of 2010!
This award already has a rich history.

It is crazy how things get so changed and turned around.But when you play a game of telephone on an epic world wide scale,things are bound to get a little jumbled. :)

But, with a little sleuthing I was able to clear some of the confusion up anyway.
You're welcome. :)

To further this interesting story
....no sooner had I completed all of my research, than I received
a comment from another blogger that I had been nominated for the Sunshine Award!
Gee...glad I got all that cleared up!

Since I was nominated twice,
and have a long list of questions to answer, I'm going to break that into another post.

I hope you enjoyed this brief History of The Sunshine Award
and my detective adventures!

Come back later for Q&A time with my two nominators
and my own nominations for The Sunshine Award!

Since all I used were the sleeves (and not even all of the sleeves), I still had a lot of sweater leftover.

Not wanting anything to go to waste, I thought of the perfect way to use up the leftovers...
A WINTER MAXI SKIRT!

I love the comfy-coziness of maxi skirts, and I HATE being cold
(especially this winter in Michigan, with arguably the worst winter weather I have ever experienced).
A maxi skirt made out of sweaters = warmth and style!

As a side note, I purchased the grey and red sweaters for 49-cents each at my local thrift store,
which fits my weekly "49-Cent Friday" blog series (the black sweater was given to me for free!).

The grey and red sweaters have strands of sparkly silver threads woven into them,
giving them a shimmery effect.

The black and grey sweaters are very stretchy, making them perfect for this skirt.
I mean, if the sweaters aren't stretchy enough, I'd end up walking like a geisha!

Since the red sweater had a higher wool content, it wasn't as stretchy,
so I decided to use it as the waistband (and top section) of the maxi skirt,
keeping the other (more stretchy) sweater pieces as the bottom of the skirt.

So to begin, I cut the sweaters across at the armpits like so:

Snip!

Snip!!

With the red sweater, I trimmed higher above the armpits to give myself more material, since I was using it as the upper, waist portion of the skirt.

Snip!

I just trimmed down the sides a bit to make it smoother.

Snip!

Using the brand-new serger I got for Christmas, I serged around the top of the red sweater...

Pretty stitches 'eh?

...and then trimmed the ribbed waistband off of the black sweater:

Snip!

After that was trimmed off, I placed the black sweater into the red sweater (wrong-sides together):

And serged them together...

Whirrrr...

Then I placed the grey sweater into the black sweater (once again, wrong-sides together):

Once I serged that together, it was all done! And since I left the ribbed band on the grey sweater, the bottom was already finished.

I love that the red sweater already is snug, which means I didn't need to add elastic.

This skirt is super comfy and I love it dressed up with my wide, black belt:

By the way, what do you think of my slippers? ;)

I hope you like this quick and easy refashion.
Thanks so much for having me, Desarae! :)

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Why spend hours taking pictures, laboring over grammar and sentence structure
to complete one little post, only to do it all over again the next day?

We all have our reasons,
but most of them come down to this...
we enjoy it.

Have you ever wanted to start a blog?

Today I'm going let you in on a little secret...or two,
about why I enjoy blogging, and maybe you'll be encouraged to start your own.

1. I finish things

I have a habit of starting projects and not finished them, can I hear an amen?!

Blogging can be a great motivator to finish projects,

because it provides a place to share them and get feddback!

2.ExpressionNo secret here, I love writing,and this little blog gives me an arena to practice my craft, and share my words.Whatever it is that makes you tick, blogging is a means to express that.

3.A Challenge
Not only was it a challenge creating my blog, getting all of the technical
aspects to come together, but it continues to push me on to new challenges.
Whether it be with my projects, a particularly intimate post, or just blogging in general,
being involved in the world of blogging challenges you to step it up.

4. Growth Chart
Each time you do overcome a challenge, it is right there in your archives as proof.
Looking back on older blog posts is a great way to measure
the strides you have taken and see the progress of your efforts,
as well as shortcomings you may need to work on.

5.Get organized
Running a blog is a great way to teach you organization and time management skills!
I've learned to keep a journal of all my blogging and post ideas as well
as a calender just for my blog. This way I can see when I have posts
scheduled and when I need to spend a day preparing more.

6.Community!
Last but most important and rewarding,
is the community of blogging!

I get to meet wonderful new people,
who slowly over time, become my friends, and share more and more of their stories.
For me, blogging and the people I connect with through it, are inseparable...
they are one and the same.

So thank you each and every single one of your who stops by to 'see' me.
I read every comment and do my best to reply.
And to all of you 'shadow readers', the ones lurking unseen in cyber space, reading but holding your peace.
I understand.
I used to be just like you.
I look forward to the day when you decide to pop out of the wood work and say 'hi'.

Blogging connects people.
There are blogs that I follow who's writers I have never met,
but I feel as if they are my real friends because I have been
so drawn in by their stories and allowed their little life to become a part of mine.

It is impossible that we could ever meet all of the great people living in this world,
but through blogging, I think we can connect with some of those great people and know their beauty
through a small, glowing screen.

That is what I enjoy most.The greatness, the beauty, and the community of blogging.